Ramen noodles might be a thing of the past for Mississippi State University freshmen.

In the fall, MSU will join other universities in the state requiring students to sign on for a meal plan. This comes after the school decided all freshmen will live on campus next year.

Bill Kibler, MSU's vice president of student affairs, said both decisions are intended to help students feel more engaged in the campus community, something officials would like to see increase the freshman-sophomore retention rate, which now stands at 83 percent.

"That's pretty good," he said of the rate, "but it could be better."

The school also plans to earn a profit on its dining operations, a division that had been operating at a loss.

The meal plan will cost about $1,150 per student per semester.

MSU is the last of the state's public universities to require some students buy the meal plan. The school's shift to a mandatory meal plan comes as the school turned over operations of its food services to Aramark.

Aramark also provides food service for the University of Mississippi, the University of Southern Mississippi and Delta State University. Mississippi Valley State University uses Thompson Hospitality Services. Sodexho, another food-service provider, covers the Mississippi University for Women campus under a similar agreement. Jackson State operates its own dining services.

At MSU, "we had quality, financial and management issues and were concerned about whether or not we were providing the best product to our students and other customers," Kibler said.

MSU made the change after losses rang in around $3.5 million during several years, a troubling fact given that departments such as dining services and housing are supposed to earn enough money to support themselves and pay for renovations to their structures.

The losses were also a roadblock to getting a loan to make improvements.

"It's kind of hard to go out and borrow money when you're losing $200,000 a year," said Don Buffum, the school's director of procurement and contracts. "We decided we needed to go ahead and do something to stop the bleeding,"

After beginning a 10-year agreement with Aramark last year, MSU has the potential to go from operating at a loss to earning $12.7 million over the term of the agreement, if earning estimates hold up. As part of the deal, Aramark also will invest up to $5 million into upgrades in campus eateries. Aramark chipped in half of that to upgrade the eating area at the recently renovated Colvard Student Union.

The school earns 5 percent on the national brand chains Aramark operates on campus, such as Chick-fil-A, Einstein Brothers or Starbucks. MSU picks up an additional 12 percent commission on sales at the cafeteria, convenience stores and other Aramark-branded food shops. That number increases to 14 percent if the school sells more than 3,500 meal plans in a semester.

The school last year enrolled its largest freshman class, 2,281 students. If it has the same success in the fall, it will still need to sell more than 1,200 extra meal plans to earn bonus commissions.

Students who are planning to enroll at State in the fall have been hearing about the meal plan since their junior year in high school, Kibler said.

Brandon resident Caroline Courtney, a 17-year-old senior at The Veritas School in Jackson, will be among the MSU freshmen on the meal plan in the fall.

"I guess it's a good thing because you won't have to spend as much money eating out," the future MSU student said.

The money worries her mother, Laurie Courtney.

"To me, it just sounds really high, and I don't like the idea of it," said the older Courtney, who attended MSU and remembers when the cafeteria served a la carte selections, a much cheaper option than the buffet-style meals now offered there.

She says she'll examine the plan further but is worried her daughter will be lured to off-campus eateries and won't use the plan enough to make it cost effective.

According to MSU's contract with Aramark, shelling out a proposed $1,150 in the fall will get students varying options, ranging from 160 meals a semester in the cafeteria with $200 to spend at the other Aramark stores to an unlimited number of meals in the cafeteria with $100 to spend at other food outlets.

The extra money can be spent at a few other on-campus outlets such as convenience stores and the national fast-food chains.

Students already at the school won't have to sign on for the meal plan, but - like everyone else - they'll have to indulge in the buffet if they plan to eat in the cafeteria.

Matilda Asuzu, an 18-year-old freshman from Baton Rouge, said she's eaten at Perry Cafeteria only when there were long lines at the fast-food restaurants in the Colvard Student Union.

Had she gotten a meal plan this year, she said, she might have eaten healthier, given that the cafeteria has a salad bar.

Students won't be the only ones affected by the shift to a required meal plan. At least one restaurateur is thinking he might feel a slight pinch.

"I wouldn't say that it's going to affect us that much, but I think it would affect us a little," said Silas McDowell, general manager of The Cotton District Grill, a popular eatery not too far from campus. About 30 percent of his business comes from students.